


Lions, Tigers, And Kids Trapped In Between

by CitrineLeaf



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: Blood, Carmen cares TM, Hurt with only a side of Comfort, Near Death Experiences, Tigress Isn’t Nice, Torture, Violence, threats of murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-09
Updated: 2020-11-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 04:20:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27478702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CitrineLeaf/pseuds/CitrineLeaf
Summary: “ “Blacksheep," Maelstrom interrupts," I'd like you to know that we've heard your rep. But we've also raised you." Tigress takes a step forward, her claws unsheathed," And we don't think there's anything you'd like less then watching your little friend get hurt." “Or, alternatively: Carmen would do anything to protect her friends.
Relationships: Player & Carmen Sandiego | Black Sheep
Comments: 7
Kudos: 117





	Lions, Tigers, And Kids Trapped In Between

"How are you feeling..." there's a pause, eyes drilling into Carmen's skin," Black Sheep?" The words are burning with barely contained rage.

Carmen shifts in the metal chair she's been strapped into until she can half-comfortably smirk up at Professor Maelstrom.And, though it hurts to move like that, it's worth it to see the absolutely furious look on his face when she simply says," Just peachy, how about you?"

However, it feels a _lot_ less worth it when his hand collides with her face and leaves her seeing stars. It takes several seconds to recover, and by then Maelstrom's snatched her chin and forced their eyes to meet, sinister mirth in his own," How about now?" She doesn't get time to respond, because, before she can, there's a new, sharp pain trailing like electricity down her arm, leaving her gasping.

And Maelstrom, the sick bastard, smiles at her as he pulls back. She looks down at her arm – well, as much as she can with a metal band around her neck – and sees... nothing. Nothing accept the smooth cloth of her dirty coat.

"Advanced nerve stimulation," Maelstrom tells her, circling like a lion," Meant to work as a better version of torture."

_Oh_... "Without killing the prisoner?"

"Ever the smart little sheep-" There's that same damn smirk, as though this is all a game, as though she was just a piece in it,"- The other faculty members have chosen not to end your 'current life' or mess you up too... viciously, just yet."

Carmen does her best to straighten up in the chair, making herself look more assertive, despite her worn and tired state. And, Despite how she loathedto even think of putting herself on the same level as them, she still forces herself to make a comeback," And why's that? Too soft on your little gir-"

There's another shock of pain, this time in her chest and radiating outward. She makes soft, bitten-back noises of pain through firmly gritted teeth. She's barely aware of Maelstrom's voice, soft and sinister as he tells her," You can stop this, Blacksheep, you can live. We just want information." And _yeah_ , when the pain seeps past her chest and starts burning her entire body like fire, that's an incredibly tempting offer.

But no, even when the pain makes her scream, she doesn't say a word.

Carmen isn't sure how long Maelstrom keeps it up, but eventually, the pain disappears. Not slowly, all at once, and it's a whole new shock to her senses.

And that shock leaves her unconscious.

—-

For the past three days – or at least, what she _thinks_ is three days, hard to tell when she's being kept in a dark room - it's been the same. In and out, pain and demands to spill information. And, she's always had the same response, no matter how many times they leave her crying out in pain or knock her unconscious, or any other things they deem fit to do to her.

After once such time, Carmen takes a deep breath, flexes out her hands, and then curls them back into fists, staring defiantly up at the faculty member. "I will _never_ talk," she tells Maelstrom, holding onto that snarl in her voice she refuses her to abandon.

Maelstrom sighs, but even a damn rat could tell it's fake all the way through. "If your not going to talk..." there's a sort of sickly sweet malice in his voice," then I suppose the surprise will come in handy."

That gets her attention. Curious, Carmen eyes the faculty member up and down, who simply smirks, turning away to stalk back from her chair. She watches, silent, as Maelstrom raises a hand to his ear, presumably talking to a concealed com, as she can hear the words," Get him," before Maelstrom whirls back around, smiling at her like the devil incarnate.

—-

It's several more minutes when, finally, the door to the room they're in slides open. A cleaner walks in immediately, no hesitation in their determined stride to the wall within Carmen's immediate vision.

They're carrying something metal, which they lift up towards the ceiling, the wall seemingly shifting – most likely compliments to Dr Bellum – to hold it there.

Though, before she can dwell on it, Someone's roughly shoved inside the room, a pair of handcuffs – VILE's 'special' brand – locking their hands together. They're more disheveled looking then Carmen herself, but still, when they lift their head up, looking around with concerningly unfocused eyes, Carmen's entire world stops.

It's _Player_.

It takes Player a moment, but he focuses on her and Carmen tries her best to give him a smile – she wonders, briefly if it looks half as fake as it feels-, tries to tell him without words it'll be okay. That she's here, that she'll keep him, her friend, safe.

It feels even more like a lie when her hacker is roughly shoved forward once more and, unable to catch himself, has to be grabbed a certain cat-themed operative to avoid his legs buckling under him. Tigress pulls him back upright, oddly soft for the operative's usual nature.

"What did you do to him?" She demands, sharply.

Tigress's claws dig into Player's skin as she practically drags him forward, paying no mind to Carmen's question.

"Oh, we just had a _little_ chat," Maelstrom practically purrs. That is, if the devil incarnate could 'purr'," And _he_ agreed to help _us."_

Carmen notices, just then, as Tigress forces Player to raise his arms up, locking them in that position with the metal railing, that there's a large bruise on his face, a sharp purple-brown against his skin.. Carmen takes a deep breath, stealing herself," So, what are you going to do then? Use your cowardice and hurt a chil-"

" _Blacksheep_ ," Maelstrom interrupts," I'd like you to know that we've heard your rep. But we've also raised you." Tigress takes a step forward, her claws unsheathed," And we don't think there's anything you'd like less then watching your little friend get hurt."

Carmen realizes about a second before it happens, but it's too late. Tigress's claws slash Player's side. And, he screams, full of pain and agony. It's just loud enough to cover out her shrieking his name as drops of red fall out onto the floor.

"Whats _wrong_ with you!?" Carmen demands, struggling against her binds," he's a child!"

Maelstrom only smiles," Tigress?"

The operative responds with another slash, forcing another sickening cry of pain out of Player.

"Stop!" Carmen yells, panic seizing up in her chest as she struggles so hard against her restraints it burns her wrists," Stop it! He's just a kid!"

"Hey, Fidora," Tigress calls, smirking,"Did You forget? You can make it stop."

How dare you, Carmen thinks, her hands balling into fists, despite the helplessness of her situation," Never."

Tigress shrugs, and continues to harm Player, blood spilling from his wounds- oh my god.Carmen's eyes find the ground, her hands curling and uncurling and- there's a huff, and then suddenly Tigress flicks droplets of blood onto her and- and she can't-

Carmen's breath falls short, staring at the blood on both her and the ground. This can't be real, Carmen wants to desperately think, this can't be happening.

"Are you ready to talk yet, Black Sheep?" Maelstrom's words snap her out of her thoughts. Carmen realizes that her cheeks feel wet – that she's crying – and yet?

"N-no," Carmen forces out, swallowing the lump in her throat.

He chuckles, extending a hand towards Tigress. The operative gets the hint, hesitating a moment before she steps behind Player and bends his head back, exposing his throat.

"Last chance," Maelstrom says in that little sadistic tone of his," Don't you want your little friend to live?"

Tigress's claws find their way to Player's throat, a sharp contrast of metal stained red against his skin. Carmen sees, then, that there are tears in his eyes as he whimpers out a soft," _Red_ -"

Tigress's claws press deeper, drawing the tiniest bits of blood. In a moment, she'll strike her claws across His flesh and he'll-

"OKAY!" Carmen screams

—-

It's take over what Carmen guesses to be an hour for them to finally stop, but, to Carmen, it feels like an eternity. She tells them what she needs to, but several times Tigress slashes at Player again or threatens to 'end him' to get her saying more. She holds herself on the edge of both Player's life and the desperate need to not let them know anything that could be harmful.

Her saving grace ends up being when Player starts to slouch in his restraints, his breathing becoming noticeably shallow. Tigress picks up on it, because, when Maelstrom orders her to slash again, she instead points out Player's current condition.

Maelstrom pauses, face scrunched up in a perfect lizard-like scowl. He glances at Player, then at the blood. Finally, he waves his hand dismissively. " Very well, get him down and find a medical kit," He pauses, his cold gaze slowly trailing over to her," And find a new place for Blacksheep, as well. Somewhere that's not covered in her teammates blood."

Carmen balls her hands into fists.

—-

Turns out, they end up bringing her to a room, which, not-very-shockingly consists of four completely blank walls, a metal bed stuck on the wall – without any actual bedding –a dim flickering light, a small little curtain hiding a toilet and sink, and a camera that watches her every move.

Carmen rolls over on said bed, she's already tried sleeping, already tired to see if she can hear anything outside – she can't, the room's soundproof as far as she can tell – already tired to see if she can get the door open and get out – once again: she can't. -and already tired to get them to let her out or answer her questions on Player. Sometime awhile ago, she even tried yelling and waving at the camera to see if she'd get an answer, no response.

She twists to stare at the ceiling, a soft sigh escaping her, right before the door opens.

Instantly, Carmen shoves herself to her feet, just in time to meet Tigress as she strides into the room. Carmen's hands ball into fists once more," Come to glo-"

Before she can finish her sentence, two more people force their way into the tiny room – cleaners – but Carmen's more focused on who they're carrying between them: Player.

They let him go, and, instead of standing up by himself, his legs buckle under him. Player starts to fall to the ground.

Carmen rushes forward, catching him halfway down. There's a long, terrifying moment where Player doesn't move at all in her arms. And, when he does shift and make it clear he is, in fact, not dead, (yet) it's because Tigress is striding forward.

Instinctively, Carmen clutches her hacker more securely, glaring daggers at the VILE operative while holding him up. The operative chuckles," Don't worry, little Blacksheep," Carmen can almost see the amused flicking of a phantom tail," We just wanted to give you a little gift for being so... cooperative." She taps her forehead teasingly and then pulls back, moving away.

And then the door's shut.

Carmen takes a breath, slowly moving to sit both her and Player down on the floor. Because Player... definitely won't be wanting to walk around after all of... _this_. After a moment of hesitation, she softly asks," Hey, kid?"

Player's response is to shuffle closer to her, his grip growing tighter. "Kid?" Carmen calls again, shaking him as much as she dares with his injuries," Are you okay?"

She feels him shake his head against her. Still, after a moment, he tries to pull back... and immediately stops with a soft wince. Carmen frowns down at him and Player, in turn, gives her a pitiful look.

"Want me to help you up?" She offers.

Player shakes his head, holding fistfuls of her coat. "Carm-" he makes out," Red, it's-it's my fault."

"Player-"

"You-you don't understand," His eyes have gone from pitiful to panicked in a flash," I gave them the idea, because I-" Because I didn't want to die. His breaths are faster than normal, coming in and out at such a high rate. Carmen's not sure if he's even getting any actual air in. "Car-Carmen I-I messed up, I-"

"Hey," Carmen whispers, one hand coming up to cradle the side of his face, bringing it up so he can look," Hey, it's not your fault it's.."

Player drops his head, sniffling. She takes a deep breath, holding him closer. "It's their fault."

"It's _their fault,_ " She repeats, her voice quieter. 

—

Player wakes up frequently, but every time he fails to focus on the spaces around him, and ends up slipping back under. Distantly, he's aware he's not alone, that she's with him, which means it's okay.

It takes him awhile - though Player's not exactly sure how long – to fully shake off whatever VILE had stabbed into him to keep him nice and sedated before he was brought to Carmen. By then, the lights have been dimmed heavily, leaving the room in near total darkness.

Even with the... well, pain and drug-induced sleep, Player still finds his body dragging at him as he tries to move, exhaustion holding him down. He shifts slightly, and feels hard metal underneath him, but also.. something soft above him. Player moves again, his bandaged wounds complain, though it's worth it. Because a bit of the red thing falls and- oh. It's her coat, and that's her sleeve and she's-

She's on the floor next to the lousy excuse for a bed, facing away from him and at the door. The position has to be uncomfortable, it's the same one he himself has taken several times when he fell asleep at his desk, too preoccupied with whatever he was working on to go to bed. Player guesses Carmen's out cold, a day like this could, well...

Player takes a deep breath, readjusting the coat that's been draped over him as much as he can without moving. After a moment, he sighs.

_"I'm sorry,_ " Player whispers into the open air.

**Author's Note:**

> God, this has been in my documents folder almost finished for MONTHS. The only reason I even finished it was because sserenumss was like 'hehe nice friend mode activated'
> 
> I feel like I'm hella desensitized to violence so this might just like... be... rndjejsjnsmamaam
> 
> Also, it's never been specified what Tigress' claws are made out of, so I'm going by two assumptions here:
> 
> The first is that they're metal
> 
> The second is that it's retractable (confirmed I think??
> 
> Basically I think of them as small retractable dagger-type metal in a claw fashion that can retract into the spaces just above her fingers?
> 
> Anyways, when you get into a lot of pain sometimes your body (at least in my case) starts to want to shut down and sleep to recover. (Which is why I'm implying Player passes out shortly after his small talk with Carmen and also because bloodloss!)
> 
> Advanced Nerve Stimulation is ripped straight from Dark Matter lmao
> 
> There's a dark matter reference in here! Try to find it!


End file.
